# Cane types: light, medium, dragon and kooboo > Light, medium, dragon, kooboo and whangee explained: what each grade and material does, why the names are supplier labels, and how to buy by measurement. - Canonical URL: https://consensualspanking.co.uk/implements/cane-types/ - Section: Implements - Updated: November 2026 (2026-11-01) - Audience: consenting adults over 18 only. Everything on this site concerns consenting adults over 18. There is no governing body for cane names and no agreed specification behind any of them. I have handled a medium cane lighter than the light one in another shop, and paid extra for a dark finish that turned out to be a photograph. So this page tells you what the words usually mean, then tells you to read the measurements instead. --- ## In short - Light, medium, dragon and kooboo are supplier trade names rather than a standard: one retailer's medium is another retailer's light. Dark and smoked finishes are cosmetic too. - Buy by measured diameter and length. A rattan of about 10 mm at 65–75 cm is the most controllable general-purpose cane. - Rattan flexes and absorbs part of the stroke. Kooboo and dragon are denser rattan, heavier at the same diameter and stiffer. - Garden bamboo splits along the grain and drives fibres into skin. Delrin, acrylic and fibreglass flex differently, are often heavier and do not forgive a misjudged stroke. Everything here concerns consenting adults over 18. ## The names are sales vocabulary This is the part that should change how you read the rest. Light, medium, heavy, dragon, kooboo, punishment grade: none of them is a specification. They are words suppliers use to sort their own stock, and no body anywhere defines them. A cane sold as a medium by one shop can be lighter than the light one next door, and I have owned both halves of that pair. What describes a cane is its diameter in millimetres, its length, its material and the weight in your hand. Any supplier worth your money publishes the first two. A listing with a fearsome name, a photograph and no numbers tells you about the seller. What a cane does to skin, and how to look after one, are on [the cane](https://consensualspanking.co.uk/implements/cane/). This page tells the types apart. ## The materials Rattan is the standard, a solid climbing palm stem rather than a wood or a bamboo. What matters here is the flex. Rattan gives on impact and absorbs part of the energy you put into the swing, so a misjudged stroke arrives softer than you swung it. Nothing else here does that in quite the same way. Kooboo and dragon are also sold as rattan, denser and stiffer, with less flex at the same diameter. Whether that is a different species, a different part of the plant or grading at the point of import, I do not know, and the suppliers I have asked disagree. A kooboo the same width as ordinary rattan is noticeably heavier, and thuds into muscle where the lighter one stings across the surface. Whangee is the knobbly one, with nodes along its length and often a natural crook at the top. The same material was the standard walking stick. I am not confident about the botany: it gets called a bamboo, and I cannot check what any importer is shipping. It is stiffer than rattan of the same thickness, and the nodes stop it landing as one clean line. Garden bamboo, the green stuff sold in bundles for staking tomatoes, is the flat never. It is hollow, it splits lengthways under load, and the split ends drive fibres into skin. It is also the cheapest thing in the shop, which is why people reach for it. Then the synthetics: delrin, acrylic, nylon and fibreglass. Some are stiff and some, delrin especially, are sold as flexible, but they flex differently from rattan, are often heavier at the same diameter, and do not absorb a misjudged stroke the same way. That makes them harsher than their price suggests and unforgiving of a swing that came out harder than you meant. If you are on this page working out what the names mean, they are not for you yet. ## The grades, as people advertise them A light cane sits at roughly 8–9 millimetres, sometimes thinner. Fast and whippy, almost all surface sting. People assume thin means gentle; the opposite is nearer the truth, because the same force through a narrower line is a higher pressure at the skin. These are the ones that split people. A medium cane is usually around 9–11 millimetres and sits in the middle of most ranges. This is the one I would hand somebody. A rattan of about 10 millimetres at 65–75 centimetres is the most controllable combination there is: enough flex to forgive a hard stroke, enough weight to feel like a cane. Dragon, punishment and prison grade all mean the heavy end: 12 millimetres and up, often a denser rattan and often longer. Stiff, deep-bruising, and given the most theatrical names in the catalogue because that is what shifts them. A beginner has no business owning one, and I mean that as flatly as it reads. The margin between bruising and opening skin is the narrowest on this site, and a heavy cane in an untrained arm removes what is left of it. | What it is sold as | Approximate diameter | What it does | Who it suits | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Light cane | About 8–9 mm | Fast and whippy, sharp surface sting, splits skin most readily | Experienced hands who want sting | | Medium cane | About 9–11 mm | Flexes enough to absorb a misjudged stroke, real weight behind it | The sensible first cane | | Kooboo | About 10–12 mm | Denser rattan, heavier at the same width, thuds into muscle | People who already cane accurately | | Dragon or punishment cane | About 12–14 mm and up | Stiff and heavy, deep bruising, almost no margin for error | Nobody in their first year | | Whangee | About 10–12 mm, uneven | Knotted surface, stiffer than rattan, lands as a broken line | Bought for the look and the crook | | Delrin, acrylic, nylon, fibreglass | About 6–10 mm | Flex differently from rattan, often heavier, and do not absorb a misjudged stroke the same way | Experienced only, and I would skip it | | Garden bamboo | Any | Splits along the grain and drives fibres into skin | Nobody, ever | Those diameters are approximate and vary by shop. ## Length, and why longer is harder Length reads as severity on a listing and behaves as difficulty in a room. A cane rotates about your shoulder and elbow, so the far end travels fastest. Add twenty centimetres and you have added tip speed you did not ask for, made the cane harder to place, and made it far likelier that the end carries onto the hip. Canes run from about 60 centimetres to a metre, and 65 to 75 covers most people and most British rooms. I bought a metre of rattan early on because it looked like the photographs, wrapped it round somebody in a small bedroom, and have not used it since. Aim and distance are on [using a cane](https://consensualspanking.co.uk/guide/using-a-cane/). ## Handles The crook is the traditional shape, and it mostly turns up on whangee because it is a natural feature of that material. It hangs on a hook, and it looks like the thing people picture when they say cane. The weight it puts in the end you hold is meant to balance the stroke, though I cannot tell blindfolded. The alternatives: a bound grip in cord, leather or heatshrink, or a plain rounded end. Binding helps if your hands sweat, since a cane slipping a centimetre mid-stroke changes where the tip goes. Otherwise handles are grip and storage. The working end is unchanged, so a crook makes a cane neither more severe nor any safer. ## Finish and colour Canes are sold natural, stained, smoked, oiled or lacquered, and the colour catches people out, because a black cane looks like it means business. Smoking and staining are cosmetic. A dark cane and a pale one of the same diameter, length and density behave identically. I got this wrong myself. Years ago I bought a very dark smoked cane on the assumption it had been heat-treated into something stiffer, and it weighed the same and flexed the same as the pale one in the cupboard. I had paid for a better photograph. Lacquer is the one finish that does anything practical. It seals the surface, so the cane wipes down more easily and dries out more slowly, and dry rattan goes brittle. Storage is on [implement care](https://consensualspanking.co.uk/guide/implement-care/). ## Buying one Measure first: ask for the diameter in millimetres and the length in centimetres, and if a seller will not give you both, buy from one who will. Hold it if you can, since two seconds of weight in the hand teaches more than any description. Flex it against your palm; a sound cane bows into an even curve and springs back straight, and a stiff spot or a lifted fibre means the bin. Then start lighter than you think you want. Nobody I know has regretted a cane that turned out milder than expected. The dragon cane bought in week two ends up at the back of a wardrobe while its owner goes quietly back to the strap. ## Read next - [The cane: what it does and how it fails](https://consensualspanking.co.uk/implements/cane/) - [Using a cane: aim, wrap-around and spacing](https://consensualspanking.co.uk/guide/using-a-cane/) - [Cleaning and caring for implements](https://consensualspanking.co.uk/guide/implement-care/) - [All implements compared](https://consensualspanking.co.uk/implements/) ## Common questions ### What is a dragon cane? A dragon cane is a supplier name for the heaviest grade in a range, usually a dense rattan of around 12 millimetres or more and often longer than average. It is stiff, carries a lot of mass and bruises deeply. The name is marketing language rather than a specification, so read the stated diameter and length before assuming anything about a particular one. It is the wrong cane for anybody new to caning. ### What is the difference between a light cane and a medium cane? In modern shops a light cane is usually around 8 to 9 millimetres in diameter and a medium around 9 to 11, but these are each retailer's own labels and nothing standardises them across the market. Neither word describes any measured property of the object. Buy by the stated diameter and length instead of by the name. ### Is a kooboo cane the same as rattan? Kooboo is sold as rattan, graded and named for being denser and heavier than standard rattan of the same diameter. In the hand it feels weightier, flexes less and delivers more of a deep thud than a light rattan cane of the same width. I have not found a supplier who will explain precisely what the grading rests on, so treat it as a trade description of density and nothing more exact than that.